Floor-surfacing machine



April', 1930. G. T. HILLS v1,753,376

I FLOOR SURFACING MACHIE Filed Nov. 7, 1927 2 Sheets-Shea?l l 5avez-2751":

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April 8, 1930. G. T. HaLLs 1,753,376

FLOOR SURFAC ING MACHINE Filed Nov. '7, 1927 2 sheets-sheet 2 PatentedApr. 8, 1930 tiene?.l ra

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GEORGE T. HILLS, or CHICAGQJLLINCIS, AssIGNoR, BY DIRECTAND MEsNEAssIGN-IvIEnTs, To MUSKEGON' MANUFACTURING COMPANY, ,oF MUSKEGCN; ivIICHIGrAlIyA CORPORATION OF I MICHIGAN rLCoasuRrACING MACHINE ApplicatoniledNovember This invention relates to' a iioorY surfacing machine and moreparticularly to one adapted for use in nishingjthe exposed surfaces ofwood or composition floors, said surfacing machine further adapted to becontrolled by an individual and is electrically operated,v causing arotatable abrasively covered finishing drum to travel over asurfacewhich is to be finished or polished.

It is an obj ect of this invention to provide a floor surfacing machinewherein the finishing roller or drum is adapted to be slightly tilted orvertically adjusted to permit polishing of portions of the floorfwhichare uneven at the margins' or at other points.

It is also an object 0f 'this invention to provide'a floor surfacingmachine with an adjustable spring-controlled dust collector,

adjustable with the downward adjustment of'r the finishing drum andadapted to be automatically elevated with the upward movement of saiddrum.

It is a further object ofthis invention to provide an improved Hoorsurfacing machine provided with an improved inverted U- shaped dustbag,the upper end of which isv directed downwardly and is provided withaclamping mechanism which may be voperated to open the discharge end ofthe fbag for emptying the contents thereofwith'out necessitating theremoval of the dustbag from the y machine. l y

lt isk furthermore an objectiof this invention to construct a' floorsurfacing machine of an improved simplified. type having a pivotedhandlebar mountedon a steering post and connected by means of togglemechanisms with the finishing drum supporting spider, whereby the drumduring'the operation of the machine be moved toward or away from thefloor to vary the pressurewofthe i finishing drum on the surfacewhich isbeing finished. n

It is an important object of 'this invention to provide an improvedsimplified formy of floor surfacing machine wherein the finishing drumand the dust collecting fan are; electrically driven,' and' having thefinishing drum and the dust collecting hood adjustableV by means of ahandle mechanism for 7,Y 1927. serial No. 231,412.

varying the pressureof the drum upon the I Figure l is a top plan viewof a floor surj facing machine embodying the principles of thisinvention and havingparts kbroken away.

yFigure 2 is a side elevation of the machine with parts broken away. 1

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the machine with parts brokenaway, and' with the finishing roller removed.

`Figure 4Vis an enlarged plan'view of the bag-gripping mechanism .orClamp mounted on the steering postof the machine whichis shown insection, and illustrating theoperation'of the clamping aws in dottedlines.

j Figure 5' is a fragmentary detail vksection taken on line V-V ofFigure 1. v As shown on'the drawings: Y The reference numeral lindicates ka truck frame or carriage having a pivoted castor bracket '2mounted underneath therear'end thereof with said castor bracket carryinga rotatable castor Wheel 3. A stub shaft 6 is supported by a journalbearing 4 in one sideV of thetruck frame 1 and a collar 7. The shaft 6supports a front wheel 5 outwardly of the journal 4. The bearing collar7 is integrally formed on one side of a dust intake pipe or extension 8which is rigidly secured or formed on one side of a fan casing`9, theother side of which casing-is provided with a'bearingcollar 10 which isrotatably supportedon a bearing sleeve 11 on which a second front wheel12 is rotatably supported. The bearing sleeves/1 and 11 are integrallyformed on the truck frame 1; Rotatably journalled in the front wheelsupporting sleeve V1l, is. a fan shaft 13 'which projects into thefan'casing 9 and has mounted on the inner end thereof a fan. wheel 14;Secured on the outer projecting end of the fan shaft 13 is a fan pulley15 j di) in which a V-crosssectioned fan driving belt 16 is engaged. Thefan belt 16 is also trained around a V-grooved fan driving pulley 17secured on the projecting end of a motor shaft 18 forming a part of anelectric driving motor 19. The motor 19 is removably secured upon thetop of the truck frame 1 by means of retaining bolts 20. Connected tothe terminal posts 21 of the motor are a pair of conductors 22, to theends of which a socket 23 is connected.

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Secured to the rear of the fan casing9 is an extension 24 in which adust outlet pipe'v 25 is secured. Attached to the projecting outer endof the dust outlet pipe 25 is the lower end of aUshaped dustbag 26, thecurved or bight portion of which is provided with suitable means topermit the bag to be hung from a hook carried on a pipe handle orsteering post 27` the lower end of which post is removably 'secured bymeans of bolts 28 in a clamp 29 mounted on the rear extension of thetruck framel.

The discharge end of the dustbag 26 is directed downwardly and isadapted to be closed by pinching the open end thereof between a pair ofrubber clamping pads 30 secured on the inner faces of a pair of clampingarms 31 which are pivotally mounted at 32 on a bracket 33 rigidlysecured on the steering post 27. Each of the clamping arms 31 isprovided with a curved or bowed extension or handle 34. The ends of thebag clamping handles 34 are connected by means of a pair of togglesorlinks 35. The toggles 35 are pivotally connected one to the other andto one end of a connecting link 36, the other en d of which is pivotallyconnected to a lever or handle 37 which is pivoted at one end on thepivot 32 as clearly illustrated in Figure 4. When the lever 37 is movedfrom the dotted line position of Figure 4 into the full line positionthe clamping arms or jaws 31 are closed against opposite sides of theoutlet end of the dustbag 26, thereby clamping saidl bag between theclamping pads 30. With this novel arrangement of a dust collecting bagit is not 'necessary to remove the bag from the machine in order toempty the same. When a sufiicient amount of dust has been accumulated inthe discharge end of the bag a dust receiving receptacle may be placedbeneath the outlet end of the bag, after which the lever 37 may be movedinto the dotted line position of Fig- 3 ure 4 causing the connectinglink 36 to actuate the toggles 35, thereby swinging the clamping Larms31 into open position to permit opening of the discharge end of thedustbag so that the contents thereof maybe discharged into the receivingreceptacle.

The dust resulting from the polishing or finishing of a floor is adaptedto be drawn into 4a dust collector or hood 38 which is secured to theintake end of the fan extension orreceiving pipe 8. 'The fan' casing 9,together with the extension 8 and the dust receiving hood 38, arepivot-ally mounted on the truck frame as hereinbefore described,allowing the outer tracking end of the dust collecting hood 38 to beraised out of engagement with theioor by means of a heavy coiled spring39 or the like, one end of which is attached to the fan extension orintake pipe 8 while the upper end is secured to the floor of the truckframe 1. Mounted on the floor of the truck frame 1 and projectingdownwardly there through is a stop screw bolt 40 adapted to be engagedby the fan casing 9 for the purpose of limiting the upward swing of thedust collecting hood 38 when pulled upwardly by the control spring 39. f

Removably clamped by means of retaining nuts 41 in bearingextensions 42of the truck frame is a shaft 43 having rigidly secured on each endthereof a bell crank arm 44, hav- .o

abrasive material 48 is applied. The drum 46 is provided with a grooveor slot for receiving the ends of the pad 47 and the sheet ofabrasivematerial 48, to hold said abrasive material secured in position on thedrum by means of retaining screws or other suitable E means. The drum 46is mounted on a drum shaft 49 which is jcurnalled in the bell crank arms44 and has rigidly `secured on one projecting end thereof a pulley wheel50. The `pulley wheel 50 is provided with a il-shaped grooveV forreceiving an endless V-cross-sectioned driving belt 51. The driving belt51 is trained around a small pulley 52 engaged on the outer end of themotor shaft 18 outside of the-pulley'17. It will be noted that thefinishing drum is rotatably supported in a pivoted bracket supported onthe truck frame so that the finishing drum may be raised or lowered tovary the pressure of abrasive covering of said drum on the surface to befinished.

Rigidly secured on the shaft 43 at substantially the middle portionthereof is a block 53 provided with a handle 54 to facilitate theremoval of the finishing drum unit "s lshaft 59 ysupported in the rearextension of the new abrasive.

the truck frame 1. Secured on one end of the bell crank shaft 59 is asecond bell crank armv 60, to the endof which the lower end of aconnecting rod 6l is pivotally engaged. lThe upper end of theconnectingrod 61 is pivotally connected to the right-hand handle 62 of a crossarm63 which is pivotally .supported on the upper end of thesteering post27. The cross arm 63 is also provided with a left-hand handle 64. 1 Y

rlhe operation of the pivote-d cross arm handle mechanism controls thepressureof the vdrum upon the floor. The downward movement of the handle62 decreases the pressure of the drum upon the floor while the Vdownwardmovement of the left-.hand handle 64 causes increased pressure of thedrum upon the licor. For vthe purposeof regulating they maximum pressureof the drum upon the '1 floor a control device is mounted on the steer-46 the set screw 65 is adjusted and the lever 67 is raised by means ofthe handle 68 to rercive the end of the set screw 65 seated thereagainstto limit the downward swing'of the left-hand handle 64, thereby limitingthe pressure of the drum on theiioor in order to obtain the maximumcutting eiliciency of This arrangement of the set screw 65 and the lever67 affords a means whereby the minimum pressure of the drum uponthefloor is adapted to be obtained when v the abrasive paper is new. Afterthe abrasive paper hasbeen worn down with the use of the limitedpressure the lever 67 is swung downwardly bypulling upwardlyon thehandle 68, thus removing the stop from in front of the set screw 65allowing Athe handle to moved downwardly a greater distance to produce amaximum pressure of the drum upon thefioor. This control of the pressureof the abrasive material on thefloor affords an arrangement that enablesthe operator lto do considerably more work with a minimum amount ofabrasive material. K

As illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, an

additional metal weight 69 is provided with said weight having alongitudinal slot or groove in the bottom thereof to permit the weight69 to be seated upon the handle 54 of kthe block 53 forming a part ofthe framework in which the finishing drum is supported. The eXtra weight69 is provided with a handle 70 for the convenience' of handling thesame.v The eXtra weight 69 may be used as desired when it becomesnecessary to increase the pressure or weight ofthe finishing drum on thesurface which is being finished.

An arrangement is provided whereby the either'end of the drum may beused for linishing a floor or surface when the floor is uneven at itsedges or vat other points. The adjusting or tilting of the drum isaccomplished by means of a pair of adjustable screws 71 which arethreaded througha portion of the block53 and contactthe upper edge ofthemiddle portion 72 ofva spring'bar having the ends thereof twisted toform a pair of integral spring arms 73, the ends of which are bolted toextension lugs 74 integrally formed on the bell crank arms 44 whichcarry the finishing drum 46. vThe spring'bar 72 73 is pivotally mountedat itsymiddle portion and has the adjusting screws 71 contacting theLipper edge thereof on opposite sides of the pivotv pin ofsaidspringbar.

This arrangement permits the drum mechanism to be slightly sprungortilted whereby uneven portions of the floor maybe finished by thefinishing drum. Mounted on the steering post 27 is an electriccontrolswitch 7 4EL having two conductors 75v leadingtherefrom andconnected to a plug 76 which is adapted to be coupled up with the socket23 connected with the terminals of the driving motor 19.

Also connected with the switch 74a is v,an extension cord (not shown) ofkany desired length adapted to be connected with abase plug or power.socket tov'permit a source of electrical energy to vbev conducted tothedriving motor. `The operation is as follows:

With the parts assembled as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 and with thefinishing drum 46 having a new covering of abrasive material 48 engagedover the pad 47,'.the machine is adapted to be set in operation .by anoperator by turning on the electrical 'switch 7 4a to cause operation ofthe motor19, which in turn is adaptedto impart a drive to the floor bythe weight ofthe drum carryingframe and the drum since the arms 45of thebell crank arms 44 are positioned to seat on the side flanges of thedust collecting hood,

as clearly illustrated in Figure 2. When the abrasive covering 48 of thedrum is new the pressure controlling setscrew 65 is adjusted forcontrolling the maximum pressure of the abrasive material on the floorby swinging the control lever 67 upwardly into alignment with the setVscrew 65 as illustrated in Figure 3.

The machine is pushed over the floor by an o perator and the pressure ofthedrum upon the iioor is governed by the pivoted crossbar 63. Bypushing downwardly on the right- 64 is pushed downwardly. The pressureof the drum is governed by the operation of the connecting rod 6l, thebell crank arms 60 and 58 and the connecting rod 57, which is adapted toactuate the hooked rocker arm 56 which is connected to the pivoted drumsupporting Vframe so that the drum may be either raised or lowered,depending upon the direction in which the handles 62 and 611 are movedby the operator. In case additional pressure is required for the drum aneXtra weight 69 may be placed upon the drum supporting frame handle 54.The dust collecting hood 38 is controlled` by the spring 39 which actsto hold the same in contact with the extensions of the drum supportingframe. The upward swing of the dust collecting hood 38 is adapted to belimited by means of the stop screw 40.

As the machine is advanced over the floor the abrasive drum is adaptedto finish and polish the surface while the fan wheel lll is adapted tocreate a suction in the hood 38 causing the dust on the floor to bepneumatically drawn into the hood to be discharged through the fanoutlet pipe 25 to be deposited in the outlet throat of the dustcollecting bag 26, the end of which is closed by means of y the clampingarms 31.

, the finishing drum.

The finishing drum may be tilted with respect to thev floor by adjustingthe control bolts 7l which act on the pivoted spring bar 72-73 to springthe same a slight amount sufficient to tilt the finishing drum so thatuneven edges or portions of the floor may be properly finished.

After a sufficient quantity of dust has been collected in the throat ofthe dust collecting bag 26 the clamping control lever 37 is adapted tobe moved by the operator from the full line position shown in Figure ito the dotted line position, thereby causing the connecting link 36 tobreak the alignment of the toggle bars 35, thereby causing the clampingjaws or arms 31 to be separated to release the mouth of the dustcollecting bag 29. A receiving receptacle may be placed under thedis-charge mouth Vof the dust collecting bag to receive the contents ofsaid bag. With this Varrangement it will be noted that the ,dustcollecting bag need not be removed from the machine in order to emptythe same.

l am aware that many changes may be made, and numerous details ofconstruction may be varied through a wide range without departing fromthe principles of this invention, and I therefore do not purposelimiting the patent granted hereon, otherwise than necessitated by theprior art.

l claim as my invention:

l. A floor surfacing device comprising a framework, rollers Vsupportingthe same, a driving motor on said framework, a dust collecting fanpivotally supported on said framework, a dust collecting hood connectedwith said fan, a surfacing drum unit removably engaged on said frameworkand co-acting with said dust collecting hood, a steering post mounted onsaid framework, a control switch on said steering post, means forconnecting the same with said motor, a control mechanism connected withsaid finishing drum unit, a control handle pivotally mounted on saidsteering post and connected with said control mechanism to cause thepressure of the drum unit on the floor to be varied depending upon theoperation of said pivoted handle, and means mounted on said steeringpost and on said pivoted handle for regulating the maximum pressure ofsaid finishing drum unit.

2. A floor surfacing machine comprising a roller carriage, a fan unitpivotally mounted thereon, a finishing drum unit pivotally supported onsaid carriage and co-acting with said fan unit, driving means on saidcarriage connected to operate the fan unit and said finishing drum unit,a steering post for said carriage, a. dustbag connected to said fan unitwith the discharge end of said bag directed downwardly, clamping meanson said steering post adapted to engage the mouth of said discharge bagto close the same and adapted to be released for emptying the bagwithout removal from the machine, a control handle pivoted on saidsteering post, link mechanisms connected to said handle and with saidfinishing drum unit to permit the pressure of said finishing drum unitto be varied when the handle is operated, and pressure control meansmounted on the steering post adapted to be set to limit the maximumpressure of the finishing drum unit on the floor.

3. A floor surfacing machine comprising a roller carriage, a drumfinishing unit adjustably supported thereon, a steering post on saidcarriage, a handle pivoted on said steering post, a pressure controlmechanism mounted on said carriage and steering post connected with saidpivoted handle and with said finishing drum unit to vary the pressure ofsaid finishing drum unit on the floor, an adjustable set screw devicecarried by said pivoted handle adapted to be set for limiting themaximum pressure of said drum finishing unit on the floor, and a memberpivotally supported on said steering po-st positioned to be contacted bysaid set screw to limit the movement of saidV pivoted handle in onedirection for limiting the maximum pressure of the drum finishing uniton the floor, and permitting said maximum pressure to beincreased byswinging said member out of contact with said set screw. Y

4. In a fiocr surfacing machine, the combination with a roller carriage,of a steering post for pushing-the same, a finishing drum unitadjustably mounted on said carriage, means for driving the same, alcontrol handle pivotally mounted on said steering post,

mechanisms operated by the pivotal movement of said handle to vary thepressure of the finishing drum unit on the floor, andl coacting meansmounted on said steering post and on said pivoted handle for limitingthe maximum pressure of said finishing drum unit on the floor. i

5. In a floor surfacing machine, the combination with a roller carriage,a dust collecting unit pivotally mounted thereon, a spring connectingsaid roller carriage with said dust collecting unit to normally hold thereceiving end of said dust collecting unit ofi1 ofthe i'ioor, afinishing drum unit removably and adjustably engaged on said carriagepositioned to contact the receiving` end of said dust collecting unit todepress the same against the action of said spring, a pressurecontrolled mechanism on said carriage adapted to be operated to adjustthe drum finishing unit with respect to the floor to vary the pressureof said drum finishing unit, and

means carried on said drum finishing unit for tilting the same withrespect to the floor.

G. A floor surfacing machine comprising a wheel supported frame, aAvfinishing drum unit supported on said frame, said unit comprising adrum and a carrier, said' carrierarranged to move said drum bodilyandkalso f tilt the same, means operable at will for bodily moving saiddrum, a dust collector unit comprising a rigid duct pivotally supportedintermediate its ends by said frame and havsaid stub shaft, a fan shaftjournalled in said first mentioned sleeve, a duct pivotally supported onsaid first mentioned sleeve and on the inner'end of said stub shaft,said duct being provided with a fan chamber, a fan in said chamber onsaid fan shaft, ka surfacing drum, a carrier for said drum removablyattached to said frame arranged to move said drum vertically, means foractuating said carrier to movesaid drum, a hood adjacent said `drum andcommunicating with said duct, a dust bag on the other end of said duct,

means for normally urging vsaid hood upwardly, cooperating means on saidhood and said carrier-opposing said first-mentioned means, and means onsaid frame for actuatingv a fan within said chamber-on said fan shaft, asurfacing drum, a carrier for said drum` arranged to move said drumvertically, means 'I for actuating said carrier to move said drumvertically, a hood communicating with said duct behind said drum, a dustbag on the vother end of said duct, spring means for normally urgingsaid hood upwardly, cooperating means on said carrier and said hood foropposing said spring, and means on said frame Vfor actuating said drumand said fan.V

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my iiame.

ing a hood at one end and a dust bagat the Y other end, a spring tendingnormally to raise said hood, there beingcooperating members e on saidcarrier and said hood for opposing said spring, a fan within said ductsupported by a fan shaft which is coincident with the pivoted supportsof said duct, a motor on said frame for actuating said drum and saidfan, and a handle for guiding said machine having means thereonfor'controlling said motor.

7 A floor surfacing machinecomprising a frame, bearing sleeves formedthereon, a wheel rotatably mounted on one of said sleeves, a stub shaftjournalledin the other of said sleeves, a second wheel carried by GEORGET. iiiLLs.

